Cable operators have deployed millions of digital set-top boxes (STBs) enabling broadcast and interactive services. Millions of cable modems have also been deployed with the associated infrastructure including Cable Modem Termination Systems (CMTSs), routers and network connectivity. There is significant interest in enabling high-speed data communications to digital set-top boxes for advanced services that leverage the existing infrastructure of digital video and Data Over Cable Service Interface Specifications (DOCSIS) networks.
The intended service allows transparent uni-directional and bi-directional transport of Out-of-Band (OOB) messaging over Internet Protocol (IP), between the cable system headend and customer locations, over an all-coaxial or hybrid-fiber/coax (HFC) cable network. The intent is to transparently transport the OOB message traffic between a set-top controller and the CMTS over a Wide Area Network (WAN) and then forward the OOB messaging from the CMTS to the set-top device over the cable network.
One technique establishes tunnels for sending the OOB messaging over the cable network. The CMTS may receive packets over the WAN that contains the OOB messaging. The CMTS changes the received packet MAC addresses to preconfigured MAC addresses for the STBs in the cable network. One problem is that STBs from different manufactures may have different MAC addresses. This can prevent the CMTS from using the same tunnels for sending data to different STBs.
The present invention addresses this and other problems associated with the prior art.